AtD: Lew,a moral center

[Paul Mackin]

On 2/23/2012 3:58 PM, David Morris wrote:
> You both have a much better recollection of the details, but at a very
> basic level Pynchon has his twisted sisters (starting w/ VL, for me)
> making choices that aren't explained much by personal histories.  I
> think his women (maybe all his characters) are constructs in his take
> on power dynamics, and as such we don't really feel their motives:
> they are too abstracted/theoretical.

I certainly felt that way in the case of Katje, another twisted sister, 
who got almost no chance to step outside her war-assigned role.  The 
exception might have been her brief hook up with Slothrop.

Lake does get relegated to some pretty oppressive roles, 
power-dynamics-wise, and, while she  accepts these roles in a manner 
some might see as docile,  she is pretty adept at talking  back to her 
oppressors. Don't remember if she fights back in any way beyond the verbal.
P


>
> David Morris
>
> On Thu, Feb 23, 2012 at 2:05 PM, Paul Mackin<mackin.paul at verizon.net>  wrote:
>> On 2/23/2012 1:49 PM, rich wrote:
>>
>> that whole bit in LA in the end is very strange not sure how it all fits or if it fits at all -- beyond that weird rape scene is Deuce--i wasnt crazy about him turning from a badass into some whining wheezy moron but then he turns into a serial killer? its all rather much
>>
>>
>> It did feel a little tacked on. But wasn't it necessary to shift action to the far West and of course Hollywood, plus enabling a final contact with Lake, a pretty remarkable character in her own way?
>>
>> Lake wasn't just the stereotypical woman who makes bad choices, falls in love with the wrong kind of men, etc. etc.  I remember conversations she had with other women in the book  and some with Deuce her monstrous husband to be as poignant as anything in the book.  Better than the Reef-Yashmeen relationship--which to me got really cloying.   I don't have a leg to stand on with regard to the goodness-badness axis but I decidedly don't care.
>>
>> P